DISCUSSION: Weapons and violence in Pokémon fanfiction

[unrepentantAuthor]

factory farm breeding

That's not mass-manufacture. Call me a pedant if you like, but it's not automated or standardised and it's a slow, slow process.

Only the small ones. If you're inside an elevator, you can't exactly deploy an Onyx

Why is that relevant? You can't use an onyx in an elevator, therefore nobody would choose to use pokémon as a weapon? That's a very specific circumstance and pokémon — there are many larger public spaces one might wish to intimidate someone in, and many smaller pokémon to do it with.

And, actually, most people in Europe don't live in those conditions.

Yeah, I know. So releasing a large animal that's under you control and has magic powers around Europeans might intimidate them a little, surely?

And explosives can kill people with no training at all. It doesn't take much effort to figure out how to use a detonator or pull a pin. That doesn't change the fact that actually having explosives or Pokemon requires far more training and experience than shooting a gun does. If you don't know how to make a bomb, you can't make an explosive; if you don't know how to feed a Pokemon, you can't have one that will fight for you. Yet, you don't need to know anything at all about shooting or firearm operation to still kill people with a gun.

Honestly, that's fair. But everyone seems to have a pokémon in the anime and games and so on, so it can't be that big a deal, really.

I'm not seeing any reason they would be.

If all the stuff I've been saying doesn't persuade you, it doesn't persuade you. I'm fine with leaving it here.

Doesn't the UK have a problem with people illegally importing guns just to shoot others with? Last I heard, gun-related violence and deaths were on the rise there. I would think that if simple access to options with as much effectiveness were enough, you wouldn't have that problem.

I'm not interested in discussing real world topics unless it's directly relevant to pokémon or at least to prose fiction.

 

[Ereshkigal]

That's not mass-manufacture. Call me a pedant if you like, but it's not automated or standardised and it's a slow, slow process.

It can be automated. Just... Okay, look, there are details about this I simply am too grossed out to discuss, okay?

Why is that relevant? You can't use an onyx in an elevator, therefore nobody would choose to use pokémon as a weapon? That's a very specific circumstance and pokémon — there are many larger public spaces one might wish to intimidate someone in, and many smaller pokémon to do it with.

It gets into a problem that crops up: The really intimidating Pokemon are also the hardest ones to use, just due to size requirements. In real life, people tend not to be scared of something the size of a puppy (despite the fact cats that size can still seriously harm an adult human); I doubt it would change with Pokemon. For the most part, you can take firearms with you a lot of places you can't release an animal. And even a tiny pistol that only fires one round is still intimidating.

Yeah, I know. So releasing a large animal that's under you control and has magic powers around Europeans might intimidate them a little, surely?

Okay, sure. What about the other seven billion people on the planet?

Honestly, that's fair. But everyone seems to have a pokémon in the anime and games and so on, so it can't be that big a deal, really.

I think it's pretty much that most people have Pokemon as pets, much like how many people in real life have cats and dogs as pets. Not really so much something they battle with as an animal they have as a companion.

If all the stuff I've been saying doesn't persuade you, it doesn't persuade you. I'm fine with leaving it here.

That's fair. I am too. Feel free to reply one more time, since I replied to what you said?

I'm not interested in discussing real world topics unless it's directly relevant to pokémon or at least to prose fiction.

It was meant as part of a point that having more access to things beyond firearms don't prevent firearms from still being brought in and used, as part of suggesting that mere access to Pokemon isn't necessarily enough to edge out firearms. I tried to find an American example that was relevant, and quickly became depressed at our violence statistics.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

I'm pretty much done here, @Ereshkigal, but I just want to clarify that I only ever said that firearms would be less dominant, not that nobody would use them. I hope you've not been arguing this whole time against a position I wasn't defending.

Regardless of anything else, my core stance is still that pokémon, what with having superpowers, are both intimidating and lethal, and therefore a viable alternative to firearms.

 

[LightningTopaz]

LightningTopaz reminded me of something: Pokemon engineered to have weapons part of them.

There is a precedence for this in the games: Genesect.

So, a scary possibility is someone engineering, say, a Metagross to have miniguns on its back.

Not only that, think about how much damage a Pokemon can take. If they can handle what amounts to be magic and fantasy weaponry, imagine what would happen if they were up against firearms and sci fi weaponry.